Don't wait by the mailbox...Eastmans are going green this year

Trip to the South - New Orleans, LA

Beignets, Beignets, Beignets. Prior to our trip, everytime we mentioned that we were going to New Orleans, beignets and Cafe Dumonde always came up.

Beignets are deep-fried dough covered in powdered sugar. They come piping hot in your own little bag. We were silly to only order one our first stop, so we went again. Twice.





Ate:
Cafe Dumonde - Beignets.
Short Stop - PoBoy's - turkey for me, BBQ beef for Jed
Deanies Seasfood - Most disappointing meal of the trip. I tried their gumbo, but the rice was rock hard. Jed got a crab dish that was good at first, and then got real gross real quick.




Saw:
Bourbon street, Voodoo shops, French Quarter, trolley car down St. Charles street, ate a snow-cone called a "Sno-ball" (Sorry folks, no different that your run of the mill snow-cone), and got the all too familiar feeling of being sticky and hot in a muggy city. We were looking forward to a steamboat ride down the Mississippi, but after a morning SPRINT to get on the boat by 11, they informed us that the 11am boat ride had been cancelled. We continued to sweat the better part of the day.






We met up with Jed's brother Luke and made our way back to Atlanta. We made a stop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and had our final lunch on the road. It was a rib joint called DreamLand. Plopped in the middle of nowhere, we enjoyed ribs, coleslaw, and banana pudding that knocked my socks off!

The last 4 hours of our drive was a downpour like I have never seen. White knuckles for 4 hours and as we pulled into the driveway, blue skies up ahead. Of course.

What a great trip we had. We are so lucky that we are able to visit new places, see new things, taste new food.

Trip to the South - Memphis and Driving

Once we left Nashville, it only made sense to go through Memphis, have some Memphis BBQ, visit Elvis "The King" Presley's homeland, before settling in for our long drive to New Orleans.



Ate:
Corky's BBQ - Ribs, mac and cheese, and spaghetti. After recalling what I ordered, I realize I don't make the best choices in food. But, luckily Jed does and we enjoyed a slab together.



Saw:
We approached Graceland and saw a line that could have circled the block. Who knew there were so many Elvis fans!!! We saw the "Lisa Marie"airplane, and thought that was good enough to pay our respects to a musician that we don't really even like. Hope you aren't all shook up. Ugh, that was bad. But, I am keeping it in there.

Onward to New Orleans. This was the longest leg of our trip, but with beignets in our future, we were excited to get to NoLa.

Trip to the South - Nashville, TN

We've been looking forward to visiting Nashville for a while now. It is such a cool city with such a fun vibe. Anyone musically inclined, you should make your way to Tennessee!!!



Ate:
Hog Heaven - pulled turkey sandwich with white BBQ sauce (one of my top 3 things we had) and a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Jed knew I loved his turkey more than my pork, so he traded me. What a guy.
We may or may not have had sushi in Nashville. We thought it was a good idea at the time. Mostly we were looking for something a little lighter. Don't judge.



Saw:
Tour of Vanderbilt college. We LOVE college campuses, and VB did not disappoint. It was a cool campus, but felt a bit out of place in Nashville. Belonged in Hogwartz or something.
Walked around 2nd street. Saw a lot of Honky-Tonk, stopped in a boot store, bought us a Christmas ornament in the shape of a guitar. Listened to a lot of live music.



Nashville, thanks for being so good to us, but seriously, kick those sushi restaurants out of your town!!!

Trip to the South - Charleston, SC

Charleston was stop #2 on this little tour of ours. It is such a great city! Sits on the water, cute shops, LOTS of horse-drawn carriages.



Ate:
Jestine's Kitchen - gumbo for me, turkey sandwich for Jed (he was already feeling the sting of too much southern food)
Jack's Cosmic Dogs - blue cheese coleslaw hot dogs




Saw:
Toured the Boon Hall Plantation - this was such a neat experience. At one point, this was a full functioning brick, indigo, and cotton plantation. Today they have a large fruit and veggie garden, with a corresponding farmers market. And if there is anything that warms my heart, it's a farmers market and fresh fruit and veggies. Unfortunately, we were on the off season, so we didn't purchase any fresh fruits. At this point, I am not sure how our bodies would react to fresh fruit and veggies anyways.
Charleston Candy Kitchen - homemade taffy always wins a spot on my list.



We'd come back for more of that southern hospitality any day of the week!

One pit stop was seeing this tree, called the Angel Tree. This tree is 1500 years old, and said to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. It's longest limb is 105 feet!!! Pretty cool thing to see in real life.

Trip to the South - Savannah, GA

Jed and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Atlanta this year (shout out to Sarah and Alex for being such generous hosts/hostesses) we had some time off at work, and neither of us have spent much time in the south, so we put together a plan to extend our vacation and tour the south. Of course, it was based on food. (whoever reads this (hmmm, not sure anyone reads this) knows that our lives sadly/gladly revolve around food)

Stop 1 - Savannah, Georgia



Stayed:
Adorable Bed and Breakfast just a block from Forsyth Park. PLEASE make sure you stay here when you go to Savannah. Jed had to hold me back from asking the homeowner to join us for the remainder of our trip.

Ate:
The Old Pink House - Fried Green Tomato salad, she-crab soup, red snapper
Lady and Sons (Paula Dean Y'all) - fried chicken, mac and cheese, black eyed peas, gooey butter cake
Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House - If this was my last supper, I would die a happy woman. This was our introduction to Southern Food at it's finest. Collard greens, rutabaga, fried chicken, biscuits, banana pudding, etc. etc. etc. We didn't get to order, but rather sat with eight other diners and the food comes to you family style. We sat with a group of North Carolinians that I also wanted to take with us the remainder of our trip. This will be a common theme.



Saw:
Toured Savannah with a hop on, hop off tour. Mark my words, if there is a hop on/hop off tour, take it. We never regret them and you get to see a lot of history from someone who usually knows what they're talking about (and if not, you don't know the difference)



Overall - Savannah was an amazing way to start our trip. The town is so old, so quaint, a little eerie, and everyone was SO polite!

M-I-C - see ya real soon...

We found the inner kids in us (and a lot of prompting from Hillary and the Dragon crew) and made our way to the Happiest Place on Earth.



I haven't been to Disneyland since I was around, hmmm, 7 or so (ie. I don't remember a THING) and I have to say, it was a pretty great time.




We were the chaperone for our nieces: Ellie, Reese, and Taytum. There were 4 adults and 3 kids and they pretty much ran us to the ground.



The kids were on a hunt for one thing, and one thing only. Princesses. We found all but Tiana. Hillary personally wanted a full refund from Disney himself, but I told her those were the chances we just had to take. Jed and I were on the hunt for one thing and one thing only...the corn dog cart. Best $7.00 we ever spent!

In addition to Dland, we went to the beach, mini golfing, bowling, and to Pink's famous (infamous in my opinion) hotdogs.









Thanks So Cal, you treated us well!

Paris in Black and White

Turning 30 is a big deal. So, we decided to do it BIG...in Paris!!!

What an amazing city. City of Love? City of Lights? City of Carbs? All of the above should apply.

Jed eat's the SF 1/2 marathon for breakfast

Today was race day for Jed. He's been training hard and getting ready for the big dog - Chicago marathon - this October. The SF 1/2 marathon is just part of the training. That last sentence makes me want to barf. Why can't I enjoy running? I did feel the running adrenaline and thought maybe, just maybe I caught the bug and could do a big race...but, I think it was just the free banana and flavored water the runners get afterward. I'm a sucker for swag.



I'm proud that he is working so hard, that the weather was calm, and that I was able to find him at 3 locations WITHOUT using a phone or GPS. Just husband and wife wifi. Guess I could've been a pioneer afterall.

Someone forgot to wish you a Happy 4th.
(She is going to be so embarrassed when we show this picture to her friends)

Monterey OK

Ocean, golf clubs, a nice drive from SF = Monterey California.

We love exploring and haven't done near enough in this city. We wanted to "get out of town" and figured a quick day trip to Monterey would do the trick.

We enjoyed 17 mile drive, a quick peek at Pebble Beach (Jed was in heaven!!!), ate an awesome sandwich, spent some time walking around Carmel By the Sea (adorbs) and finished with a pit stop in Santa Cruz for a mind-blowing milkshake. Icing on the cake of a great day.

Easter. Easter bunny. Easter rabbit. Easter parade

If anyone else understands that title, we need to talk. That line came from a "Thompson movie classic" called Midnight Madness (think a live video game...and Michael J Fox as a tween) If you choose to rent it (most likely on VHS) don't judge. You know you all have "those shows" you grew up on.

We have already had a great Easter weekend...and it's only Sunday morning. We met some friends (and family. Hey Jare. Hey Ry) down at Crissy Fields where we talked about how cute Frankie is, ate some bagels, and snapped a few pics. I may or may not have requested that Jed dresses "as Easterly as possible" so we could get a few Spring pictures. He obliged. Which is #7815 reason why I love him.

He is now in the kitchen slaving over a pancake breakfast. #3588 reason why I love him.

We spent some good quality time this morning watching movies that are Christ centered and encourage you to watch this short message. The real reason we celebrate Easter.



Hope everyone enjoys their Easter Sunday, and ham and cheesy potato dinner tonight.

An Exception for Sam

Fair warning: this post is probably more for me than it is for you. Please forgive indulgences.

I don't really blog anymore. Heather's just so darn good at it that I leave it in her capable hands. :)

But I decided today might be worth an exception.

A year ago today my oldest sister Sam passed away. A couple days ago I finished a book called Making Toast, a true story about another family who also lost someone suddenly (I highly recommend it by the way).

I related to a lot of it, but particularly to this passage:

"Odd that I seem to know Amy more completely in death than I did when she was alive . . . there was so much to her life that I was unaware of until now, when I speak with her friends and colleagues and learn of this sound decision or of that small gesture of thoughtfulness."

That's exactly how I feel about Sam. I'm amazed by the impact she had on others' lives and extremely honored to call her my sister. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to know more of her goodness while I still had the chance to tell her how much I look up to her.

Over the past year I've tried my best to make sure the same thing doesn't happen with any of my other siblings. There's still so much to learn, but the deeper relationships I already have with each of them make me happy.

So, in tribute to Sam, here's one (of many) reason why I look up to each of them:

Matt: he talks openly to me about his feelings and emotions and lets me talk to him about mine.
Rach: she's one of the best mothers i know. she cares deeply about her family and makes the tough sacrifices to care for their well-being in the most meaningful of ways.
Alex: he proactively provides me with regular opportunities to develop relationships with his kids.
Luke: he values my opinions and is always content to listen to them before he shares his own.
Heber: he's willing to take risks and forge his own path through life.

I hope I have many more years to learn even more reasons.

It's been a while

Since the Fab 4 hung out. A long while. I spent some time in Utah (sans the husb) for some much enjoyable family time, a baptism for my niece Marlee, some shopping, lots of laughing, too much eating, and a lot of play time with the nieces and nephews.

The "VaughnThomDragonman" family.